The Sparks Flew

Today’s love story comes from a good friend and fellow contributor, Karrilee from Abiding Love, Abounding Grace. She’s an excellent writer and I just know you’ll enjoy her story!

I was all of fourteen, with my big hair, lace gloves, and my Madonna-playing walkman… and I made a vow!

I meant it with all of the determination and strength that was in me. I looked around at my parents and siblings and classmates and decided then and there, I was NOT going to meet the love of my life at fourteen. I wasn’t going to fall in love and marry my high school sweetheart! It’s not that the relationships around me were necessarily ‘bad’ however it seemed as though in each coupling, there were communication skills or anger issues, or jealousies that never seemed to mature beyond the out of hand wild teenage emotions! I wanted none of it. None. Of. It.

I purposed in my heart to live a little, to really grow up, find myself, to gain a perspective on who I was and who I wanted to be. So for the rest of my high school days, I dated a little here and there but I stayed true to my vow. In fact, there may have been a boy or two who could have captured my heart. But once I recognized that free falling feeling, I would cut it off. We’d go back to being ‘just friends’. It wasn’t going to happen. This may have not been fair to the Boy, but I was protecting my heart. I would not compromise or give in.

For the most part, having avoided many heart breaks and drama, I enjoyed my teenage years. It wasn’t until the ripe old age of 19 or 20 that I began to consider wanting to really fall in love. My life was not unfolding the way I had intended and yet I was not unhappy…just searching. However, in all of my searching, I was finding pieces of me along the way.

I suppose right about here I should say that I was not raised in a church-going, Christian home. My parents were both made to go to church as kids and they took the opposite route – wanting us to WANT to go (or not) on our own. With little to no direction, we grew up rather clueless. We dabbled quite a bit in New Age thinking and speech… and it was for Mother’s Day, when I was nearly 21, that the women in the family all went to a Tarot Card reader for some girl bonding time. It was there that the woman ‘read my cards’ and told me to start making a list. In all her gifting and discernment, (which I am sure she had some) she looked at this single 20 year old and saw my romantic soft heart and boldly proclaimed that my soul mate was right around the corner! She encouraged me to make a list of characteristics that I would want in a mate… make it long and detailed… go beyond looks and style… and then watch for him to cross my path!

Soon after that, a friend of my brother-in-laws’ moved back to town and found his way over to their home – which just so happened to be right across from my home. My sister and I are best friends, and spent a lot of our days together, so it was simply a matter of time before I stopped by, and eyes (mine blue, his brown!) connected, sparks flew, and so it began! Immediately, I started taking notice of his character… Weeks turned to a month or two and we were friends getting to know each other when I realized that he was meeting almost all of my crazy long and detailed list. One night he was mentioning how he really had no clue as to what brought him back home from across the country. Of course, my sister and I glanced at each other, thinking of the psychic and both were thinking that we knew!

In all of our talking, we began to get real and to get honest. I was New Agey and he was raised a Pastor’s kid. He hadn’t been living for God, but he knew one day he would. I wasn’t so sure. It was on a trip to England with his parents a few weeks later that I met and began to fall madly in love with someone else. Well – ‘Someone’ else, that is. In a few short months, after an unfolding season of searching – for myself… for a bigger picture… for a mate… it seemed that I was finding all of my answers in two Men… two who would quickly become my husband, and my Husband! That was 22 years ago this month that I had the joy and the honor of falling hard and completely for two Men at the same time… and to this day, neither one of them have let me down.

BIO:
Karrilee is a wife, mother, daughter, sister and friend. She is a writer, reader, pray-er, photographer, artist, beach lover, laugh seeker…serving God to the best of her ability. She lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband and nearly grown girlie. She is passionate about diving in deeper with the Lord and inviting others to discover His love for them. Her life message is…Speak Life. Be Love. Shine On. Karrilee loves to share her heart and what the Lord is speaking to her over at Abiding Love, Abounding Grace.

Isn’t that a fabulous story? I’m still grinning from cheek to cheek just thinking about how the Lord worked in her life.

Welcome!

This is a site that has branched off from EmbracingBeauty.com. Feel free to browse through the other new sites via the images at the top of this page. Thanks for stopping by. We're glad to have you here!